rhunos_book0clock 's review for:

Dark Room Etiquette by Robin Roe

5.0

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“Son. Don’t be afraid. I’m making you a promise. I won’t ever let them find you.”

Touching, isn’t it? Oh, to have a father enunciating such words into your ears. Wouldn’t you feel euphoric and protected? But what if I tell you, that that same father wanted you so much he chained you inside his house - in a dark, isolated and windowless room so you can never ever leave him. 

Did I get your attention? Now that my friend, happened to poor Sayers Wayte.

Sayers do have it all – the looks, popularity, and anything that his family’s money can buy. The first part of the narrative presents him as a privileged teenager not to mention a bully also. I loathe him in those parts where he takes everything for granted while having the time of his life. The feeling that he can get away with everything suddenly turned into a twisty turn when he was kidnapped and held captive by a man who psychologically manipulated and emotionally abused him.

I think the author did an exquisite job exploring the complexities of the human psyche in this very book. Throughout the pages, you get to see Sayers slowly being stripped off with every identity he obtained while growing up and then eventually being clothed with a personality which is far more different than before. And guess what, he embraced and embodied it. Why? Of course, for survival.

As much as I admire him for his resiliency, I cannot just shove the feeling of pity towards him especially when the aftermath was rolling already in the plot. 

The author made sure you realize that trauma comes in different forms. Well, some might successfully outlive it. Others might still be living in it while trying their best to get away because sometimes those dark rooms feel like there’s no way to escape.

“Intense and hunting, hard to put down – a masterpiece that makes you remember that one thing Pandora left in her old box – hope.”